Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio – The John Carroll University softball team closed out the regular season with a split against Marietta College at Bracken Field on a chilly, April Saturday afternoon. The Blue Streaks (15-18, 8-10 OAC) dropped game one, 6-5, to the Pioneers (16-20, 8-10 OAC) but bounced back with a 9-2 victory to cap off the season.
 
Prior to the start of the day's action, JCU recognized its three seniors: Jennie Broski, Maggie Gannon, and Hannah Mizener.
 
Game 1 – Box Score
Marietta 6, John Carroll 5
For the eighth time this season, the Blue Streaks fell victim to a one-run loss.
 
The Pioneers put their first run on the board in the top of the second and then took a two-run lead with a solo shot in the top of the fifth. In the home half of the inning, the John Carroll bats went to work. Sophomore Miranda Noday doubled to center field, knocking in junior Quinn Sobieszczanski and sophomore Elizabeth Fraas to knot the game at two. During the next at bat, Noday made her way around to home after a fielding error by Marietta's second baseman to give the Blue Streaks their first lead of the day, 3-2.
 
It didn't last long as Marietta tied the game in the top of the sixth and then took a 6-3 lead in the top of the seventh with a three-run homer.
 
After Broski reached first on an error to start off the bottom of the seventh, Fraas continued her hot streak at the plate and hit a two-run shot out to left center to trail by one. However, it was all JCU would get across as the next three batters were retired.
 
Fraas finished the game 3-for-3 with two RBI and two runs, along with 12 putouts. Noday finished 1-for-4 with two RBI and one run, while Gannon went 1-for-2.
 
Game 2 – Box Score
John Carroll 9, Marietta 2
John Carroll took an early lead when Noday came across the plate in the bottom of the first. The Blue Streaks held onto the lead until the Pioneers hit a two-run homer in the top of the third for a 2-1 advantage.
 
JCU's bats were silent until they exploded in the bottom of the fifth where the team scored six runs. Junior Nikki Geringer led off the inning with a single, and Broski reached via a walk. Sophomore Caitlin Fitzsimmons hit a hard double out to right center to bring the two across.
 
With two outs and a runner at third, Gannon hit a base knock to add the third run of the inning. She then came home when junior Lindsay McKnight drilled one out of the park that landed into left field of Schweickert field. It wasn't the only long ball of the inning as Mizener sent one out of the park on the next at bat, forcing Marietta to make a pitching change to stop the rally.
 
The Pioneers threatened with two on the bags and no outs in the top of the sixth, but junior Jess Cook stayed steady on the mound and got out of the jam, giving up just one hit.
 
The Blue Streaks went back to work again at the plate, where Fitsimmons knocked out the third homerun of the game to tack on two more runs for a 9-2 lead.
 
John Carroll made quick work of Marietta in the top of the seventh with straight outs to secure the victory.
 
Fitsimmons finished the game 2-for-2 with four RBI and one run, while McKnight was 2-for-3 at the plate with two RBI and one run scored.